2008 BIG TIME Report

Round One Of The BIG TIME International Series

Story by John Halter, Promoter/Rider  - Fort Benton, MT - June 7th & 8th, 2008

Mother Nature strikes again but it didn’t seem to matter! The June 7-8 BIG TIME Hillclimb entered it’s new date with pretty good results. Despite the tough economy and high fuel prices the event still had a great line-up of competitors. The weather had an effect on the spectator count but the one’s who made it to the event got their money’s worth! 

The Trophy classes continue to get larger and more competitive.  The 55cc winner was Returning 2007 BIG TIME International Champion Noah Shaver from Billings, Montana. Noah handled the brand new Trophy hill very well and managed to take the class win. The young man who won the 85cc Exhibition class was Cole Lomas from Great Falls, Montana. Cole’s win list is getting longer. We look forward to a bright future with this young Hot Rod!

 Another notable Trophy story is the Fearless Females Class. We’ve watched Jessica Fenger of Galata, Montana, advance into quite an impressive hillclimber in the last few years. She was the 2007 BIG TIME International Fearless Females Champion. But this weekend was different. Young Shaylee Cook from Big Sandy, Montana advanced from her CR85 Honda onto a borrowed RM250 Suzuki with winning results. The young lady used the foot blocks to get a clean start and the rest was history. Shaylee put down a 12.705 time that ended up putting Jessica’s 12.819 time into second place. It was an outstanding victory.

 As the Saturday competition advanced into the money classes we started to see a trend that ran throughout the entire weekend……the Corey Erhardt winning streak. Erhardt, of Billings, Montana, put down the winning times in the 0-700 Qualifier, 701-Open Qualifier, and the Brand New 450 Exhibition Class. All of the hills were brand new with varying levels of difficulty, yet Erhardt seemed to be dialed into whatever hill we threw at him.

 The Saturday evening festivities were the consistently hilarious, tons of fun, crazy atmosphere party at the Clubhouse Sports bar in Fort Benton. The shuttle bus ran another successful weekend with more stories than I have time to tell!

 Then it rained…..a lot. By Sunday morning we had water sitting everywhere with more rain in the forecast. But somehow our luck turned in our favor. At around 9:00 am the rain stopped and a breeze picked up. The pits were a mud pit but the Sunday Championship hill was very near perfect. We started our Championship classes at noon and it couldn’t have worked out better (under the extreme weather conditions). It was raining in every direction within 15 miles…..but not on us!

 The Erhardt winning streak continued with both Sunday class wins, taking the overall 2008 BIG TIME Hillclimb Championship. The hill was steep and fun since the traction was just about as good as it can get. Everyone was a little bummed in the morning with the mud / rain but by mid day the riders were as happy as I’ve ever seen them. That hill was one of our best…..thanks to Mother Nature!

 Other notables were Old man Pete Loomis from Billings, Montana, who decided to borrow a few bikes and compete this weekend. Pete took home many envelopes with a Sunday showing of second in the 0-700 Main and third in the 701-Open Main. Pretty impressive.

 The Canadian presence was our largest ever at our Montana event. The Sid and Travis Seitz family really threw down some good times (and many beers) during the weekend!

The guys from Drumheller and Medicine Hat had a good showing and took a few envelopes of American cash back to Canada!

 The Under dog rider “story of the weekend” in my opinion, was definitely Ryan Riley of Havre, Montana. Riley is a contractor who works constantly, leaving him no time to practice. The last time he rode (at all) was the 2007 BIG TIME Hillclimb. Well, he took a shared KZ1428 over the top of that hill with a time of 7.286…….very nearly beating the winning time of the Corey Erhardt’s  7.278……now that’s what I love about our sport. NEVER under estimate the Under dog!

 Bottom line, we wrapped up our Sunday classes with a great competition on hills that we had not climbed before. It was fun. Erhardt swept the classes. That record will be hard to beat.

 The rain started halfway through the awards but at that point we had accomplished what none of us thought possible earlier that morning. The weather was a pain but thanks to the perseverance of the riders and spectators we made it through.

 We have Big plans for 2009. It’s time to take it to the next level.

Thanks everyone!

 John, Mindy, and Devin Halter

Halter Motorsports

P.S. All results will be posted on www.HALTERMOTORSPORTS.com

 All event photos are available at www.MTIMAGE.com

0-700cc Qualifier